


What We Pretend to Be

by BlackEyedGirl



Category: Leverage
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Identity Issues, POV Female Character, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-27
Updated: 2010-05-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:19:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackEyedGirl/pseuds/BlackEyedGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Comment fic prompt: "no matter how much she tries to deny it, 'Sophie Devereaux' is who she is"</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Pretend to Be

**Author's Note:**

> For LJ comm comment_fic for the female characters theme. Background or pre Nate/Sophie

It isn't as though she meant to be stuck on 'Sophie' for so long. It's neither the name nor, frankly, the accent she started off with, but it's the costume she was wearing when she met Nathan Ford. It was one of her favourite aliases (most of it is close enough to the truth that it's an easy fit) and she had been using it on background jobs on and off for a while. It's not surprising that he assumes there's more truth in it than she meant – that's what she does best. So 'Sophie' became the name of the person she was when she was letting Nate Ford chase her across the globe, and sometimes letting him catch her. And it's 'Sophie' he says when he walks out of the dark and back into her life.

It's just that now Sophie has come to mean other things too.

Parker grabs her arm and says, "Sophie. I need shoes." It turns out she means boots to climb in, but they make a day of it anyway. Sophie helps her pick the absolute nicest practical black boots, and deflects the attention of shop assistants so Parker doesn't have to deal with them. Or pay, probably.

She's Sophie when Hardison has been saying it for whole minutes now – "Sophie. Sophie. Sophie. Tell Eliot he's just wrong about Blake's 7." And she's Sophie when she gets annoyed and throws a cushion at his head. This alias wasn't meant for that kind of petty frustration, or the apology she has to make when she knocks the controller out of his hand by accident. Hardison doesn't seem to notice the poor fit – he accepts the apology and just starts in again on, "But seriously, Sophie-."

Eliot says, "Sophie," when he shakes her awake on the couch. When her hair is a mess and she's in the remains of a costume and the others aren't back yet. He says, "Sophie, taste this," and he's in as much disarray as her so she takes the spoon and murmurs her appreciation before going back to not-quite-sleep.

She should blame Nate, she really should. He's the one who wakes her up again. "Sophie. Hey, Sophie. We're back." He pulls her gently to sitting. "All ready for tomorrow. Are you okay? Sophie."

"I'm fine, Nate." His name has never been a lie; she doesn't know about the others. She is tired and still worried and has no energy to pull any face together but this one he already knows. She's not sure what would be left now, underneath it, if she tried to tug it off. Sophie smiles at Nate and rubs the sleep from her eyes. If this is her performance of a lifetime, she can think of worse fates. And anyway Nate will always bring Sophie new parts to play – that's his role in the truth they've built from all these lies. "So," she says, "who do I get to be tomorrow?"


End file.
